This past week's episode of Batwoman saw the debut of Julia Pennyworth (The Royals' Christina Wolfe), Alfred Pennyworth's daughter. However, the Arrowverse's version of the character is white rather mixed race like the current comic incarnation.
Showrunner Caroline Dries recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly and explained that the reason for the change had to do with the specific story of the episode.
"Yeah, we stressed about that a lot," she said. "And the reason is we knew we wanted a character to come in [and] put on the Batwoman suit so we could fool Sophie, and we also fell in love with the idea of using Julia Pennyworth. Then when we realized that Sophie would not be fooled by a mixed race Batwoman, we were like, 'Oh s–t, you know, but we decided just to own it and go with it anyway.'"
The episode, titled "Tell Me the Truth," revealed that Julia trained Kate during her self-imposed exile, and even began a romantic relationship with her. Julia left Gotham at the end of the episode to purse The Rifle, but, considering that she is the daughter of Batman's trusty butler, it is highly likely that we will see her again in the future.
Created by Caroline Dries and developed by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Batwoman stars Ruby Rose, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Camrus Johnson, Dougray Scott, Elizabeth Anweis and Nicole Kang. The series airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.